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History in the Making
Reflections from the front lines serving people experiencing homelessness, counting down the days to the annual Mike McQuaid I am Home Breakfast (December 5th), waiting for the repercussions of the federal government shutdown on homeless services and people who may become unstable in their housing, and preparing for a special event this Friday, November 7th.
For perspective, the number of unsheltered around Key Campus was 162 this morning with an additional 339 unsheltered people in a greater radius. Total 501. And total sheltered in three spaces on the Campus about 900. Our greatest, most immediate concern is continuing to offer as many services as possible to these 1,401 people.
More than 20 years ago, several service provider organizations (Andre House, Central Arizona Shelter Services (CASS), County Healthcare for the Homeless, St. Joseph the Worker, and St. Vincent de Paul) operated programs for the homeless in downtown Phoenix. The numbers reported in the media and historical documents state "about 1,000 people" were homeless in the area. They built a vision for a Campus of human services.
Mike McQuaid was a volunteer at Andre House and became a face and voice for the effort to raise the funds to build a Campus. David Smith was the Maricopa County Manager. Don Keuth was President of Phoenix Community Alliance. These legends and giants in our community rallied their staff, volunteers, board members, elected officials and other business leaders to raise the money to create a space for services to be co-located...read more here...
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